The New Grand Line Adventures
by bigredwriter
Summary: This is a re-telling of One Piece with a new member of the Crew joining them in the events before Loguetown, Koala. This can be directly linked to chapter 731, and the spoilers it reveals, so those who aren't up to date with the manga, be warned. There won't be any shipping, but there will be moments of flirting and hormones in a crew full of people in early adulthood.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of the characters

...

Koala lazily walked around the deck of the boat, ignoring all of the pirates aboard who were also acting as if she wasn't there. She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. She eventually made her way up to the inexplicable tangerine trees that were onboard, picking a ripe one off and sitting in its shade. As she began to unpeel the skin on the delicious fruit, she reassessed her situation.

She was kidnapped. Again, she added. Though thankfully, this was nothing like the first experience. This time, it was fairly civil and, if any word could describe it, gentle. She was on assignment in the East Blue, over viewing a kingdom that Sabo and Dragon suspected to be ripe for revolution. In the few weeks she had been there before they showed up, she didn't find any conclusive data on the matter. Her transport was not due to arrive for another week, so she began to search for new perspectives on why this kingdom was ripe. It was in one of these perspectives she was researching by the docks she ran into them. The Straw Hat Pirates.

Those five each left their own distinct impression on her. Their sniper, the one called Usopp, was a threat if backed into a corner, but was hardly a leader of men. He could blend in well, but she mostly overlooked him. Then their was their captain, the rubberman named Luffy. While he had more potential than in anyone she knew besides Sabo and Dragon themselves, he wasn't fit to fight among them as well. He was too brash, accidentally starting the rebellion on the hands of their greedy navigator Nami. Though she had to admit, discovering the kings scheme of outbidding Marine prices for wanted men and turning them into an army that threatened this countries population was not something she would have ever assumed. She had carelessly assumed it was a ploy to impress himself to the World Government.

Then there was the other two heavy hitters in their crew, Sanji and Zoro. Sanji was a damn good chef that constantly hit on her. The sad sap would have never realized he might have a shot if he wasn't a rampaging bundle of hormones. And Zoro was a unique swordsmen with a great will, but a terrible sense of direction that almost got the both of them killed during the rebellion.

That kingdom was now free, with a horde of pirates coming together to form an army for the country. She had not expected that to happen either, but she assumed most of the East Blue was full of softies, just like Sabo was. The six of them were regarded as heroes, and given a great feast that… she honestly could not explain what the hell happened with Luffy's stomach. It was like 3 Ivankov's, who ate more than anybody else she knew. In fact, the entire crew was able to put down more booze and food than they probably should have. Even she ended up getting caught with their pace, and passed out.

Next morning, she found herself on their pirate ship leaving the island, as the Marines were on there way there. Then the captain said that she was going to join their crew, which she obviously denied. She tried convincing them that she had her own thing she needed to do, but they all fell into line with their captain by the end of the conversation. There was also the fact that, during the festivities the night before, Luffy had asked her about joining them, and in her drunken stupor had said it "sounded fun." In his eyes, that apparently meant, "Yes, take me away while I am passed out."

So, with no say in the matter, she was forced to become a member of a crew of pirates that she barely knew. The only fact she knew about them were that they were heading to Loguetown before making the trek to the Grand Line. Her main hope was that some of her fellow Revolutionaries were there, as they often were, to help her escape them. It isn't that the crew wasn't interesting, but she had bigger fish to fry. Governments to topple, men to support, Fishman Karate to master. But she figured she would only have to suffer through this injustice for a little bit.

She looked at the discarded peel of the half of a tangerine she had eaten, wondering where the appropriate place to discard them was. Not seeing any obvious place, she stood up and walked them to the rail, tossing them into the sea. She couldn't help but think that Sabo would have a giant kick out of this. He had teased her relentlessly since she was put into his "unit" a few years back, not meanly but in a friendly way. They actually got along quite well, swapping stories about their shitty childhoods. Her times as a slave and in a village which betrayed her saviors, his time under a bastard set of parents whose only friends were his "brothers" Ace and Lu…ffy. Who was a rubber man. And wore a straw hat.

She put her face in her hand. How the hell did she miss that? She grunted in frustration. Of course she would get kidnapped by her superior's brother. Of fucking course. It was laughable. In fact, she couldn't help herself from laughing, laughing her ass off for reasons she didn't fully understand. Laughing so hard, she didn't realize a person had found interest in it.

"What is so funny, Koala?" She had a voice ask her casually. She stopped for a moment and looked over her shoulder, where Usopp was looking at her. With her free hand, she waved him off.

"I just realized something funny, it's no big deal." She tried to explain it away.

He looked at her with an eyebrow raised, but shrugged his shoulders. He saw the half eaten fruit lying in the shade of the tree. "Hey, you gonna finish that? Sanji is only cooking for Nami, and I'n getting hungry."

Koala shook her head, "No, you can finish it." She began to study Usopp as he took her place under the tree, tangerine in hand. He seemed relaxed and content on this ship. As he peeled the skin away, he began to speak.

"I know you didn't plan on joining our crew, but don't worry, none of us were. From what I know, Zoro used to be a bounty hunter who Luffy managed to force into his crew; I didn't expect to be invited in, Sanji was pretty much abandoned by his restaurant so he would join us, and Nami defected a bunch of times before she decided to stay on. You'll learn to like it under Luffy, the idiot that he is." He finished his speech and stuck about half of the remaining fruit in his mouth.

She was impressed by his awareness of her feelings. Though he was wrong about his assumption, it was oddly comforting in knowing she wasn't the only one roped along by this stretchy captain. "I don't doubt it would be fun, but I have another goal to fulfill, one away from this crew." She began to look off into the distance of the sea.

Usopp finished chewing and swallowed. "Funny thing about that, most of us have goals that don't really fit. You know Luffy wants to become Pirate King, but Zoro wants to become the world's best swordsman, Sanji wants to find "All Blue", whatever that is, and Nami wants to make a map of the world."

Koala turned to look at him, elbows on the rail. "What is your goal then?"

"Mine?" Usopp said. He suddenly jumped up, puffed his chest out, and put his fists to his side. "Why, it is to become a great warrior of the sea like my dad." After this display of posturing, he turned back to her. "What is your goal?" He asked before taking another bite out of the fruit.

Koala had to pause to think about it. What was her goal? What did she want to accomplish? She had been part of a group for so long, it was almost a groupthink goal, to overthrow the World Government. But in all honestly, that wasn't what drove her. Than what did?

"I guess…I guess my goal is to never be taken advantage of again." She finally said, surprising herself. But it was true, she never wanted that feeling again, after that hell.

Usopp chuckled. "I think it might be a little late for that." She paused for a second, realizing what he meant. It was true and nearly got a chuckle out of her as well. "But I get what you are saying", he continued, "you don't want anyone to control you, to manipulate you." She couldn't but nod, he was hitting it right on the head. He finished off the piece of fruit before ending his statement. "You know, I once asked Luffy why he wanted to be king of the pirates, and he said something similar. It was something to the effect of being free to roam the seas however he wanted." He looked her square in the eyes. "Your goal might be better suited here than whatever else is waiting out there for you." He concluded in a manner that was almost cool, she had to say. Until he stubbed his toe on the corner and hopped out of sight yelling.

Letting herself be amused on that incident, she couldn't help but reflect on his words. He was a lot smarter than she had given him credit for. He did sound sort of right, but she couldn't let him sway her. She needed to wait them out until Loguetown, their next destination, and quietly escape back in the Revolution. She left her spot, and began to walk around the main deck of the ship, which was empty save for the captain, Luffy. Apparently, Usopp had gone inside. Who knows what the other members were doing. She saw him sitting dangerously on the head of the ship, something she remembered he called the "captain's chair". He was being fairly quiet, basking in the sun. She made her way to that end of the ship, but was surprised to see him turn around. "Oi, Koala, what do you need?" He asked almost casually.

"Nothing at the moment, unless you can give me a ride back to the island." She said, expecting his response.

"I can't do that, or else you will leave the crew. And I can't let my nakama leave!" He cheerfully said.

She smiled a little bit. "A little trusting aren't we, calling me nakama while we have only known each other for a week."

He smiled. "Nakama is nakama, no matter how long you know them."

"We may be nakama in your eyes, I already told you that I didn't mean it when I said I would join your crew." She told him yet again, but he waved her off.

"It doesn't matter. I would have made you join us anyway. You are too cool and too good a fighter to not be on the future Pirate King's crew."

"Your only requirements on being in your crew is being cool and being good at fighting?" She looked at him, unsure if he was serious.

Luffy nodded. "Pretty much. Unless you can play an instrument, because I really want a musician in my crew. Can you play anything?"

Koala shook her head. "I'm not much of a music person myself." She admitted.

"That stinks." He began to look grumpy, a look she couldn't help but notice was the same look Sabo wore when he really hammed up his displeasure with something. She began to chuckle.

"Nani, whats so funny?" Luffy asked, him jumping onto the ship proper finally.

"You just reminded me of someone I know when you did that. Nothing big." She told him honestly. She just didn't have to say who it was, if she remembered what Sabo had told her correctly.

Luffy's frown eased up, before he laughed it up. "Whatever. I'm hungry. HEY SANJI!" He suddenly yelled out for the cook. "YOU GOT DINNER READY YET?"

The chef suddenly appeared on deck with a tray with cookies and a cup of tea. "Madam Koala, I hope you don't mind if I made you a little something." He looked fairly suave, but Koala didn't swoon.

She took the cup of tea off the tray, taking a sip of it. "This is pretty good. Thank you Sanji." She politely said. "But I don't need the cookies. I'm not hungry."

Luffy's eyes lit up. "Food!" He exclaimed, reaching out for the delectable treats, only to face a Sanji chop of denial.

"Damn it Luffy, I made it for her, not for your pit."

"But she said she wasn't hungry!"

"So she can have it later!"

Koala was amused as she watched the captain and cook fight. She took a sip of her tea, and looked out into sea, into the darkening sky signaling the end of the day. And, hopefully, the end of her travels with this interesting, entertaining crew.

...

You know it won't, but leave a review on what you think


	2. Chapter 2

She found herself in the middle of a game Luffy called "Monkeyball", and had no idea what was going on. Scratch that, she knew exactly what was going on. She just couldn't understand why it was happening to her.

Fifteen minutes beforehand, Koala was carrying a conversation with Zoro about swords. She knew a couple sword freaks like him, and they always were interesting to talk to. Of course, he had to act like a macho man and take off his shirt to let her see his battle scar. Then again, she did ask about his meeting with Hawkeye. Anyways, he was informing her of what one needed to look for in a sword, since he had to buy two of them for cheap at Loguetown. She knew that the quality of those swords would be suspect, and debated about using her contacts on the island to help get him better swords. Then, she shook off the idea as she was getting too attached to the crew. They were all good people, for sure, but she was a revolutionary, goddamit! She didn't run away at 16 to join them just to leave for a pirate crew!

"FOOOOOOOODDDD!" As her conversation with Zoro finished, the moans of Captain Luffy were heard across the ship.

"FOOOODD!" It was echoed by Usopp, and that was somehow even more annoying. Especially since the two knew they had eaten most of the food on the ship, and were supposed to be catching fish.

"FOOOOOOODDDDD!"

"FOOOODDD!"

"MEEEEEEAAAAAAATT!"

"MEEEAATT!"

"GRUMBLE GRUMBLE SHAKE SHAKE KIFONDLE GUMBLE GUMBLE!"

The echo stopped. "What in the world was that noise?" Usopp asked, looking towards his captain.

He began to laugh, patting his stomach. "Haha, I told you I was really hungry."

That last noise proved to call the navigator Nami, as she came from her room and immediately smacked the two moaners on the head.

"Can't you shut up, idiots! I'm trying to make my map, but I keep messing up due to your loud mouths! And why aren't you fishing? The reason we don't have food is because YOU TWO just had to have an eating contest, didn't you?"

Usopp nodded. "But of course. The person who eats most is captain, and I want to be captain." He hung his head. "Luffy ate twice as much as I did."

"And then the food ran out because of it! Now stopping moaning, and FISH!" Nami yelled at them.

"Nani, but it is so boring, and we haven't caught anything!" Luffy complained loudly.

Nami's eye twitched. "Then sit your butts back down, and catch something!" She gave Luffy another slap to motivate him, and one to Usopp for good measure. "Now, if I come back out here, I am going to rubber bounce you over this boat, understand." The glint in her eye made it obvious she would do just that.

The two guys gulped, satisfying Nami. She turned her attention to Koala. "Can you make sure these idiots get serious and catch something?"

Koala shrugged and nodded. "Sure, I do want to eat dinner tonight."

Nami smiled and thanked her before returning to her room. When she gave the clear, both Luffy and Usopp turned to Koala. "Entertain us!"

She was surprised by the suddenness of the request. "What?" She responded, even though she understood them.

"We can't fish if we are bored, and you have to make sure we fish. Ergo, you have to make us not bored." Usopp logically explained before reverting to his previous state. "Entertain us!" They repeated in unison.

Koala pinched the bridge of her nose, truly wondering how someone so childish could be so strong or seemingly intelligent. She wanted to throw them overboard, but Sabo would kill her if she had to tell him, 'Hey, I met your kid brother Luffy and accidentally murdered him by throwing him into the sea when he was annoying me.' Not that she wouldn't save him, but if worse came to worse, she still didn't want to have to explain that.

"Alright, what can I do to help entertain you?" She questioned the two. The smile they gave creeped her out.

So now, she was in the middle of a game of "Monkeyball", which was not played with a ball or involved monkeys. Apparently, they had spilled paint on an expensive baking sheet that made it unfit to cook with and Sanji had tried to beam them with said sheet as punishment. This inspired the game, which was a combination of monkey in the middle and dodgeball. Usopp and Luffy were throwing with great precision said sheet at her, and she was forced to dodge each potential decapitation. If she got hit, nothing in the game would happen to her, but she would get a nasty bruise in real life. However, the two had to catch said sheet, or else it was open for grabs between her and them. If she retrieved the sheet before the dropper could, she would get out of the middle and get her throws in.

The trouble was, they were doing a pretty good job of catching it. Luffy could take the blow with relative ease from Usopp and catch it off his body, while Usopp was using a machine he had built for this game in particular to catch it. Koala had protested to the use of this catching claw, but then she found out from official rulekeeper Zoro that it was in the rulebook, which he showed her. His expression also read, "I know this is stupid and ridiculous, but things get boring and I get to throw stuff at the shitty cook, so how can I complain."

She never knew that could be communicated in an expression.

So know she was humiliating herself attempting to distract the duo so they wouldn't catch the disk. She was dancing, jiving, and shaking her assets to try and get either Usopp and Luffy to drop the disk.

But she was having fun. Despite the absurdity of the situation and how easy it would have been to unleash some karate and knock the two into shape, she was playing their game and having fun. It had been a while since she had this much fun, and she couldn't help but smile.

Finally, Usopp zinged the sheet at around her knees. It was shaking a little, so it was hard to read if she should jump left or right to avoid it. So instead she jumped over it, high enough to ensure it wouldn't touch her. Without realizing it, however, she had accidentally done a mid-air backflip and nailed the landing. She turned to Luffy to prepare for his throw, when she saw him gawking and the sheet behind him. Without even waiting, she made a mad dash towards it, breaking Luffy from the trance. He turned to find the sheet, and quickly sent his arms back to stretch for it. Just as he sent them towards the sheet, Koala jumped on one of his arms and rocketed towards the sheet with him. With her additional reach, she quickly snagged the sheet before his free hand could. Jumping off, she smiled as she waved the sheet towards him.

"You lose, Luffy. Get in the middle, monkey." She told him, receiving a half-hearted frown.

"Ah, that stinks. I didn't catch only cause you distracted me." Luffy made his excuse.

"Well, doesn't that mean I was doing my job well?" She asked smiling, before suddenly chucking the sheet at his head. It nailed him on the top of his noggin and bounced off, without even moving his straw hat, becoming an easy softball for Usopp to catch with his real hands. Luffy began to rub his head from the unexpected blow and narrowed his eyes towards Koala, signaling the game was on.

She was kind of shocked by Luffy's attacking her and Usopp at first, but a quick check of the rulebook made it obvious it was a legal and smart tactic. The game was a lot more fun now that she had to avoid Luffy's pistol and stomp while throwing the sheet. Her and Usopp had managed to keep Luffy away from catching it for a few minutes, but there was a lot of noise being made which drew the attention of a certain navigator.

Luffy had just managed to steal the sheet from Usopp and was winding up his first throw when Nami burst onto the deck from her room. "That's it. I'm kicking all three of your asses!"

Koala was somewhat surprised that she was lumped into it. "Wait, what did I do?" She caught herself asking before she could think.

"You were supposed to be making them fish, not playing monkeyball!" She yelled as she began to stomp her way over to Luffy.

From behind her, Koala heard a noise in the water that she was sure was a giant fish or small sea king. As she turned to prepare to fight, if that was on its mind, she heard Luffy call out, "Koala, catch!" She then turned back around and ducked the incoming sheet as she was not prepared to catch it. Just as the small brown camel-faced sea king made its way over the Going Merry's railing line, coming into view of everybody on deck. The sheet managed to hit it straight between the eyes, killing it instantly. The sheet bounced off the railing and back onto the ship. As the five on deck moved to that balcony and confirmed the sudden demise of the giant beast by such an unlikely throw.

Nami simply grabbed the sheet, and quickly hit Luffy, then Usopp and finally Koala in the back of the heads with it. Putting it under her arm, she turned to the only other person on deck that wasn't rubbing their heads in pain. "Zoro, can you chop it up and bring it to Sanji for preserving and such." With a nod, she left back to her map room. Koala was embarrassed, but couldn't help but say this was the most fun she had had since she was on board with the Sun Pirates.

After they feasted on the tangy sea king meat for dinner, Koala decided to take a long hot shower, as she had built up a surprising amount of sweat during the game of monkeyball. During this, the five other members of the Straw Hat Pirates had a meeting called by Usopp. He had expected it to be more difficult to get them together, but they were all on the same page about what needed to be discussed, even Luffy.

"So, how do we stop her from leaving once we get to Loguetowm?" Usopp bluntly asked the rest of his crew.

The five of them looked towards one another with serious expression, waiting to hear ideas. The first to speak was Zoro. "Do we have any right to stop her?" He asked the obvious moral question on this crew. "And can we really stop her?" He added, thinking about her power level that was quite possibly beyond their captain's.

Luffy had a smile on his face, but not his usual one. This one was more serious, and told that he was thinking something. "I know we can, because she wants to be a part of the crew."

Usopp nodded. "I get that feeling as well. She obviously values whatever she was doing when we met a lot, but part of her yearns to be on the sea."

Sanji agreed with the both of them. "She has looked happier when we are together than when we first met for sure." His lovey-dovey expression popped up. "And I would love to have another beauty like Nami-swan on this ship to balance Marimo overthere." He narrowed his eyes to Zoro, who narrowed them back.

"Look swirly boy, do I need to teach you a lesson?" He threatened. Before anything more could come of it. Both received a smack on the head from Nami.

"Look you two, no fighting. Now, are you three sure she actually wants to stay, and it isn't just your imaginations."

Sanji nodded, Luffy replied with a 'yup', and Usopp gave his explanation. "No one chooses to play a game of monkeyball for more than three seconds unless they are a part of the crew."

Nami couldn't help but agree with that. The game, thought stupid and reckless, was good reflex training and a great way to alleviate stress. And, she would never say this but, was a fun game in general. "So, how do we keep track of her? Spy on her, or buddy up with her so she can't leave."

"I think we should buddy up, and you should watch her Nami." Usopp spoke.

"But that means we all have to buddy up! Can't we just take turns watching her!" Luffy responded, wanting the freedom to do whatever he wanted in the place of the Pirate King's end.

"I don't mind buddying up with her!" Sanji quipped.

"I say we just keep an eye on her, and if she gives us the slip, she can choose if she wants to come back on her own." Zoro analyzed.

Luffy frowned. "It almost sounds like you don't want her on the crew!" He accused Zoro. "Why wouldn't you. She is awesome!"

"It isn't like that. I think she would be a perfect a crewmember as all of you, but I don't think we can simply force it on her. She might have something she needs to deal with, like what Nami did." Zoro explained.

Nami gave a thoughtful look, agreeing with Zoro's point. However, she wasn't sold on it, so she reviewed each of the explanations. "Usopp, why did you say she should buddy up with me?" She was curious.

Usopp waved his hand. "That's easy. Sanji is a lovesick idiot, Zoro is a directionally-impaired idiot, and Luffy is just an idiot."

"And you, long nose?" Zoro barked back at Usopp for the insult about him getting lost a little more easily than others.

"Well, I would be an idiot to think I could keep a close enough eye on her." Usopp absolved himself of the task.

Nami shook her head. "I don't think that will work. I plan on going shopping, and I will be too busy haggling to give my full attention on her."

The five of them looked at each other, unsure of what to do. How would they be able to ensure Koala stayed on as a Straw Hat?

…..

Now, this took longer than expected because I rewrote the second half, deciding to leave the plot point I was going to introduce to later in the story. So, tell me what you think. Leave a review, review keep me going!


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